Speculation now rampant after ‘normal’ Alonso crash

McLaren’s media statement has not stopped rampant speculation about the crash that left Fernando Alonso in hospital for four days and counting.

Many insiders are blaming the Woking based team, not only for waiting 28 hours to explain the bizarre accident but then insisting it was entirely “normal”.

But drivers are rarely knocked unconscious and airlifted to hospital, and when they reportedly then pass every medical test, they are not normally kept in hospital for several days.

It is also not normal for a team’s detailed account of a crash to be so widely contradicted by other evidence.

For instance, trackside photographer Jordi Vidal has released an image that contradicts McLaren’s claim that Alonso ran onto the Astroturf on the outside of turn 3 before losing control in a gust of wind.

Vidal also denied McLaren’s claims that it was particularly windy at the time, and he agreed with Sebastian Vettel that the Spaniard was not driving at full speed.

Vettel, who was following the Spaniard at the time of the crash, recalled: “The speed was slow, maybe 150kph. Then he turned right into the wall. It looked strange. It did not look like a (normal) accident.”

La Gazzetta dello Sport quoted an F1 engineer as saying: “With the downforce in F1, McLaren’s explanation is plausible if he (Alonso) was pushing hard, as (Carlos) Sainz was.

“But not with the speed that Alonso was doing, as the photo taken just before shows that he was in the middle of the track”.

Close to Alonso throughout his career, Flavio Briatore told the Italian press this week that the 33-year-old does not remember anything about the crash.

Alonso’s friend Pedro de la Rosa steadfastly refused to comment on Tuesday after visiting his countryman in hospital.